Women rule the roost in corporation

122 women have been elected to the BMC for the first time, gaining a majority in the 227-member house

122 women have been elected to the BMC for the first time, gaining a majority in the 227-member house

Women have emerged triumphant at the recently-concluded BMC elections with as many as 122 female corporators winning the polls. Thanks to the 50 per cent reservation, they have gained a majority in the 227-member house.

Victorious women candidates of the BJP after they were felicitated in Dadar on Saturday

While Shiv Sena ruled the roost with as many as 44 women corporators, the Congress came in second with 28 female candidates. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has 16 and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has 14 women corporators.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Samajwadi Party has the least number of female candidates with six and three respectively. Raj Thackeray's MNS gave as many as 111 seats to women out of its 224 seats, while BJP had 31 seats for females out of the total 63 seats.

Shiv Sena gave 79 seats out of 135 and the Congress gave tickets to 73 women out of 165. The NCP gave 35 seats to females amongst its 58 seats. Women candidates have clearly won a majority within the Sena and the BJP. While 44 females emerged supreme amongst the 75 seats won by the Sena, 16 women candidates won hands down amidst the 31 seats won by the BJP.

Womenfolk are hopeful that this time too, the mayor should be female. Deputy mayor of BMC, Shailaja Girkar said, "We are more than the men in the house, so we expect that this time too, the mayor should be a woman. However, let's see what the alliance decides."

It might be recalled that since the last two terms, women have held the prestigious post of the mayor. While in 2007, Dr Shubha Raul was the mayor, Shraddha Jadhav has held the coveted post since two and half years. Even the post of deputy mayor has been held by women Vidya Thakur and Shailaja Girkar.

Meanwhile, the race to the top has taken an interesting turn with only male names being thrown about within the Sena for the mayor's post. In fact, many winners from the Sena and the BJP are not in favour of a woman mayor.

"The women are more in number this time in the house, and for the last five years we have had women mayors, let men also get a chance this time," said a corporator, who didn't wish to be named.